The lion like the eagle symbolizes dominance
or dominion. It is important in heraldry and in fable is referred to as
"king of beasts." Its astrological sign is Leo,
and has the sun for its planet. The basis of the association between the
lion and the sun is the animal's strength, its golden-brown color, and the
ray-like mane of the male. Similarly as the eagle, the lion is believed
to be able to look straight into the sun without blinking.

As a symbol the lion represents both religious and stately power and
leadership. The Gita calls Krishna
"a lion among wild creatures"; the Buddha
is "the Lion of the Shakyas"; and Christ
"the Lion of Judah." Muhammad's
son-in-law, Ali, honored by the Shi'ites, is the Lion of Allah. Many divinities
are depicted riding or seated upon lions, and they decorated Solomon's
throne as well as the thrones of the King of France and medieval bishops.
Also the lion symbolizes Christ as judge and teacher, carrying his book
or scroll; and is the emblem of St. Mark.
In medieval iconography the forequarters of the lion represented Christ's
divine nature, while the hindquarters, deliberately contrasted because of
their weakness, symbolized his human nature.

However, the lion's strength is not always effective because infrequently
he does not restrain it in order to use it properly. St. John of the Cross
noted the lion's "heedless, angry appetite," a symbol of imperious
will and uncontrolled strength. This led to the phrase "pot-bellied
lion," a symbol of blind greed which Shiva
treads down. In Christianity
too, where the aspect of controlled strength of the lion symbolized Christ,
this aspect of uncontrolled strength represents the Anti-Christ. Even though
this is a negative aspect, it might also justify the lion being symbolic
of imperial heraldry and medieval bishops, greed is a human failing too.

As can be seen, like the eagle, the lion has an androgynous
nature too. Many ancient cultures also associated him with chthonic creatures
and deities such as the crocodile. In Egyptian iconography, lions placed
back to back, each looking in the opposite direction, one to the east and
the other to the west, represented their watching the course of the sun
passing from one end of the earth to the other. Watching as they did the
birth and death of daylight the lions came to represent yesterday and tomorrow,
and from this they took on a rejuvenation symbol since the sun's nightly
underground journey brought him from the lion's jaws of the West to the
lion's jaws of the East so he was reborn each morning. In ore general terms,
the lions symbolized renewed strength ensured by the day-night cycle of
exertion and rest.

From the above description it is easy to understand the alchemical association
of the lion. Like the eagle the lion has an androgynous nature, all of the
opposites are present he is strong and weak, courageous and cowardly, the
symbol of power and creed. The opposites in the lion's nature are similar
to the snakes of Mercury's caduceus; their treatment
determines their appearance just as the alchemist's mixture determined his
product. The lion's golden brown color resembles the sun or gold
which the alchemist strived for. The lion also symbolizes rejuvenation,
in alchemical terms, the destruction of the base material and rebirth of
the new. A.G.H.